Reading Response: Brograms and #femfuture

“Brograms and the Power of Vapoware” by Hicks and “US Centrism and inhabiting a non space in #femfuture” by Dzodan both highlight ways in which technology is NOT intersectional and leaves people out. The Hicks article discusses the “bro culture” involved in STEM jobs and computer programming, and how it leaves women out in a field that they actually used to be dominant in. The Dzodan reader takes another approach, discussing how United States centered online feminism leaves out women of color and groups from other countries.

Both of these articles touch upon something that many humans just tend to do, which is leave people out, unfortunately even in spaces like the Internet which should be a place open to everyone. The culture surrounding many technology jobs today “furthers the privilege that is already on top” by making these spaces solely for white, upper middle class, men. Anyone who argues against this is met with extreme online sexism and harassment.

Dzodan discusses a different side of it, in which she and other people are kept out of US centric feminism, and their ideas and opinions are ignored and not touched upon. She describes herself and others like her as “outsiders who have issues that are alien to online feminism.” Although perhaps they are not faced with harassment such as the women who protest the situation in technology jobs, they are completely ignored and unheard, which in many ways is not much better.

To go on from here I think that an important question is how can we make the Internet and jobs in technology better feminist spaces?